1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to squeegee devices and more particularly to a squeegee device with a blade head that is manipulated to clean glass surfaces located deep in recessed corners.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern day architectural preferences often dictate building constructions formed with window openings into which window frames carrying panes of glass are recessed. Typical of such designs are glass panes recessed some six to eight inches inwardly from the extended plane of the exterior vertical surface of the peripheral building wall.
For aesthetic purposes, such windows must be periodically cleaned. The cleaning procedure, particularly for high rise office buildings, typically involves suspending a scaffold from the roof of the building and raising it to various elevations corresponding with the elevations of the various rows of windows so that workmen might apply water or cleaning agent to such windows and then wipe the windows clean. It has long been common practice to first wet the windows with water and then perform the drying and cleaning process by wiping a pliable squeegee blade across the window surface maintaining a constant pressure thereon to affect a uniform sweep removing the residual water from the window surface. Workmen cleaning the windows of high rise buildings are often working under a contract which provides economic rewards for enhanced efficiency in the cleaning process. It is appreciated in the window cleaning field that horizontal strokes for the squeegee are typically more efficient, requiring less energy on behalf of the workmen, than would be the case for vertical strokes along an elongated window on the order of five or six feet in height.
Squeegee devices utilized in the cleaning process typically incorporate fittings formed with a barrel for receipt of the end of a wooden handle and carrying rigidly therefrom a cross bar mount which mounts the squeegee blade disposed at a predetermined and fixed angle relative to the handle. The squeegee blade is typically oriented at about 60.degree. to the axis of the handle. The workman manipulating such a squeegee through a horizontal path from the right to left hand side of a recessed window pane would then insert the blade at the right hand edge of the window and wipe it across the window surface holding the handle at an angle of about 25.degree. to 30.degree. relative to the window surface. With this configuration, as the left hand edge of the window pane is approached, the handle, when maintained at such an orientation relative to the window, would strike the abutment wall defining the recess at the left hand side of the window to avoid such contact and provide for full completion of the squeegee blade stroke to the left hand edge of the glass.
It has also been a long recognized shortcoming of existing squeegee devices that, with the fixed angular orientation of the squeegee blade relative to the handle, the workman's hand grasping such handle is frequently brought into contact with the rough surface of the exterior wall as the wiping stroke is nearing completion. This is frequent cause for injury, discomfort and sometimes incapacity of the workman endeavoring to manipulate the device.
Consequently, there exists a need for a squeegee device having the squeegee head articulated relative to the handle such that the wiping stroke might be completed without excessive manipulation of the handle or exposure of the workman's hands to unnecessary injury.
Articulated squeegee frames have been proposed for different purposes As an example, a squeegee device has been proposed which includes a squeegee blade carried pivotally from a handle and pivotable from one side to the other to accommodate either pushing or pulling of the squeegee device across the surface to be cleaned. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,624 to Neal.
Other proposals have been made for rotating squeegee heads to different orientations relative to the handle. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,270 to Mavis. Such devices, while satisfactory for their intended purposes, fail to provide an arrangement for automatically reorienting the squeegee blade relative to the handle upon approach of the distal window frame wall upon completion of the stroke.
Other efforts have led to the proposal of squeegee heads which might be adjusted from one pivotable location to another for convenient use in locations which are awkward to excess. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,579,941 to Jenkins.